Graham Platner wins Maine Senate primary, Collins awaits

Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran, won the Maine Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Tuesday, setting up a November matchup with Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Democrats see Maine as a potential pickup after Collins faces a campaign

PORTLAND, Maine — Graham Platner didn’t come to Maine politics as a seasoned insider. But on Tuesday night, he won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, turning a longshot outsider bid into a direct challenge to Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Platner, an oyster farmer and former chair of the planning board in Sullivan, is 41 and has little formal political experience. Still. his campaign has drawn hundreds of people to rallies across the state. energizing Democrats who see Maine as one of their best chances to flip a GOP-held Senate seat.

In his acceptance speech in Blue Hill, a rural town where he was born, Platner leaned into the story his campaign keeps returning to: that people can change.

“If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,” he said. “And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.”

The November matchup would put Platner—a progressive who has been backed early by Sen. Bernie Sanders—against Collins, the only Republican senator left from New England and the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Collins, first elected in 1996, has argued her experience and committee power make her the best option for Maine.

“ It has been 92 years since a Maine senator was chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the most powerful committee in the Senate,” Collins said in May, saying she had a “once-in-a-century opportunity to help the state of Maine.”

Democrats’ hopes rest in part on Maine’s recent voting record. The state is the only one with a competitive Senate race where voters supported Democrat Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in 2024.

Platner’s pitch: economic relief and “redemption”

Platner has framed his candidacy as a fight against the economic squeeze he says keeps down the middle class. He has said he wants to focus on issues including housing and healthcare and has emphasized income inequality. He also campaigned as an outsider willing to take on billionaires and the Washington establishment, including Collins.

His message about trust landed with some longtime residents who said his background made him feel less like a typical political figure. Annette Babcock. from Platner’s hometown of Sullivan. said she has met him a few times and likes that he is not an established politician. She backed him Tuesday anyway.

“The Republicans don’t have much moral high ground to stand on when they’re criticizing him for what he’s done when (President Donald) Trump is a convicted felon,” Babcock said.

Platner’s controversies, and the question they keep raising

Platner’s path to Tuesday’s win has not been clean. His campaign has faced repeated attacks over controversies that surfaced during the race and have been echoed by opponents from both the left and the right.

Last year. old online comments made by Platner resurfaced in which he appeared to endorse political violence. dismiss rape in the military. and criticize both police officers and rural America. Platner apologized for the comments and said he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression when he wrote them.

He has also faced questions about a skull-and-crossbones tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol. Platner said he got the tattoo on his chest during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia. He has said he was unaware until recently that the image had been associated with Nazis. and he has since covered the tattoo with a different design. A former girlfriend told the New York Times that he had told her he knew what it meant.

More recently. the campaign went on the defensive amid reports that he previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while married. Platner did not directly deny the existence of the texts. but instead criticized the aide who talked to news outlets and accused the media of running gossip.

The New York Times reported last week about his relationships with previous girlfriends. some of whom said they viewed him positively while others described him as volatile and insulting. One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner’s campaign disputed that allegation.

Platner’s own language in Tuesday’s remarks returned to the theme that has been central to his campaign: earning trust after mistakes. He told voters:

“Any of those who feel let down, or disappointed, or disillusioned, it is my job to earn your trust, faith and support, and I will spend every day of this campaign, and if I have the privilege, every day in the United States Senate doing exactly that,” Platner said.

How Maine’s primaries could stretch results

Tuesday’s election day in Maine involved more than the Senate primary. Voters also chose nominees for governor in crowded contests to replace Gov. Janet Mills.

Primaries across the state used ranked choice voting. Voters can rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the popular vote. the bottom finisher is eliminated and voters’ second choices are counted. Tabulations continue until a candidate wins a majority of the total votes, meaning results may not be known for days.

The governor contest included Democrats choosing between Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson; former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Hannah Pingree; energy executive Angus King III; and former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Nirav Shah.

Republicans voting for governor faced a larger field: former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles; healthcare executive Jonathan Bush; former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason; University of Maine System trustee Owen McCarthy; former Paris. Maine. selectman Robert Wessels; and business owners David Jones and Ben Midgley.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Democrats were selecting a nominee to face former Gov. Paul LePage, who is unopposed in the GOP primary. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden is stepping down, and Republicans see an opportunity to win back a district President Donald Trump easily won in 2024.

The Democratic field for the 2nd District included former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, former U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood, and social worker Paige Loud.

A high-stakes general election now in motion

A race between Platner and Collins would be an unmistakable clash: a progressive with no record in high elected office against a long-serving lawmaker and one of the Senate’s most influential committee leaders.

For Democrats, Tuesday’s win keeps their strongest opening alive for flipping a GOP-held seat. For Collins, it sets up a contest that could test how voters in a state that has supported Democrats in recent presidential elections weigh outsider appeal against a campaign shaped by controversy.

___

Associated Press journalist Rodrique Ngowi contributed from Sullivan, Maine.

Graham Platner Susan Collins Maine Senate Democratic primary ranked choice voting Sullivan Blue Hill oyster farmer Marine veteran governor primary 2nd Congressional District